Crews open I-40 after wreck-area pavement repairs

RALEIGH (AP) — Road crews reopened two eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 in time for the morning commute between Durham and Raleigh.

Officials say 100 feet of asphalt near Raleigh-Durham International Airport was melted by burning diesel fuel in Friday’s multi-vehicle crash, which killed one man dead and injured several people.

Eight vehicles were involved in the wreck. Nemeth Sanders of Bailey died.

James Hastings Junior of Mebane was driving a tractor-trailer that caught fire and exploded. He’s at the Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill with second- and third-degree burns to 50 to 60 percent of his body.

Eight-year-old Luke Harris of Statesville is at Duke Hospital in a medically induced coma. State Trooper John Collins says Harris and Hastings are making progress.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)